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A Politician From Hyderabad Has Taught An Ultimate Lesson To Police Who Broke Traffic Rules

Everyone is equal according to the law and everyone must follow the law. But is this really being followed?

Is everyone following the law, especially those who have the duty to implement it?

We regularly see Police stopping people who won’t follow traffic rules and fine them. The fine depends on which law you have broken. But you might also have seen police and traffic police personnel riding bikes without wearing helmets or tripling on a bike or talking on the phone while driving.

Who is questioning them for doing so? Who is going to fine them?

But a politician from Hyderabad named Amjed Ullah Khan who is from Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) has started a campaign #PracticeWhatYouPreach. The focus of this campaign is to see whether the policemen, especially traffic police are following the rules or not.

Since a week now, Amjed has been posting photos and videos of police personnel who are violating the rules. He has been tweeting these photos and video to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K T Rama Rao and Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma.

The response from the public is overwhelming. Even they are posting photos under the same hashtag whenever they find a policeman violating the traffic rules. Amjed says, “I can’t say that it’s my campaign anymore. So many people have joined in, and my WhatsApp chats are flooded. I have been sent more than 300 photos in the last few days alone.”

The tweet also reveals the time and location when the photo was clicked, leaving no scope of any excuse from the officials.

On the question of how it all started, he said, “There was a lot of discussion about how the Hyderabad traffic police were issuing several challans every day, much to the inconvenience of commuters. The roads in the city are already terrible, and the Metro Rail work has made things harder. At such a time, instead of managing the traffic, policemen are busy issuing challans. College students say that there were situations where they have issued two challans in a single day.”

Amjed also objects to the high amount of challan; for example, the fine for violating “helmet rule” is Rs. 2,000.

He further says, “If a student pays Rs 2,000, his entire pocket money for the month will be done. Instead, the police should focus on awareness campaigns promoting road safety.”

Amjed also talks about instances where fines were issued in a wrong manner. In his words, “They fine us for not wearing a seat belt, but I don’t see a single person in a minister’s convoy wearing one. They constantly fine us for not wearing a helmet, but do nothing when policemen ride around without one. I decided that enough is enough, and it was time to show them the mirror.” He alleges that policemen issue 100 challans a day just to fulfill their targets.

“They are being given a target to fulfill so that they can fill up the empty coffers of the Hyderabad police department.”

He also says that traffic personnel is not punished even after the proofs are provided which is why he resorted to social media.

He further said, “Since I’m tagging KTR and the DGP directly, it has a much bigger impact. The police’s social media handles are even responding to me now after the DGP took notice of my tweets.” Sarcasm can be felt when he said, “Just like the traffic police are worried about us, we are also worried about them. They should also be safe, and not die in accidents.”

In Hyderabad, the penalty point system was introduced last month and has been implemented from August 1. As per this system, different traffic violations attract different points and if someone scores 12 or more penalty points, his license will be suspended for a year. Amjed asks whether the same system will be applied to the policemen who break rules or not.

He talks further about his campaign, “A democracy is of the people, by the people, and for the people, and police officers are not exempt from this. We have just started the campaign, but we are planning to do much more.”

He is also thinking of posting large banners in the city which will feature photos of policemen breaking the rules.

He said, “Since the law is equal for everyone, we are asking them to change themselves, and practice what they preach. Our demand is that any police officer who gets issued more than three challans should be suspended.” He concludes by saying this, “The government has given helmets along with each ‘blue colt’ vehicle, but policemen never use it. If you are working for my safety on the roads, you should lead by example.”

What do you say? Do you support the movement? Share your views with us in the comments section below.